1 novembre 2019
Annex on Reference to international human rights law
PALAIS DES NATIONS • 1211 GENEVA 10, SWITZERLAND
In connection with above alleged facts and concerns, I would like to draw the attention of your Excellency's Government to the relevant international norms and standards that are applicable to the issues brought forth by the situation described above.
In particular, I would like to remind your Excellency's Government of the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as codified in articles 2 and 16 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) which the United States of America ratified on 21 October 1994. As well as, Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States of America became a party to on 8 June 1992, provides that "[n]o one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".
I would like to further remind your Excellency's Government of the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as an international norm of jus cogens, and as reflected inter alia, in Human Rights Council Resolution 25/13 and General Assembly Resolution 68/156, which "[c]ondemns all forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including through intimidation, which are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever and can thus never be justified, and calls upon all States to implement fully the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".
With regards to deprivation of liberty as a coercive sanction rather than as a disciplinary sanction, I would like to highlight that it can amount to torture as defined in Article 1 of the CAT, which states that "torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity, it does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions".
In this context, I would like to conclude by drawing the attention of your Excellency's Government to article 15 of the Convention against Torture provides that, "Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made". I also further recall that paragraph 7c of Human Rights Council Resolution 16/23 urges States "To ensure that no statement established to have been made as a result of torture is invoked as evidence in any proceedings, except against a person accused of torture as evidence that the statement was made, and calls upon States to consider extending that prohibition to statements made as a result of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, recognizing that adequate corroboration of statements, including confessions, used as evidence in any proceedings constitutes one safeguard for the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".